Dionysius Karoussos was born in 1903 in Peloponnese, Greece. During his life major political and social conflicts had taken place which shaped later post-war Greece. Two world wars, civil war, and dictatorship created an explosive climate both nationally and globally. In these turbulent times, left the countryside and moved to  Athens.
He actively participated in the interwar "Art Group" that was established in Athens at the end of 1929 by Greek painters and sculptors, to promote modern trends in Greek art. With its active presence in the Greek art scene throughout the 1930s, the attraction of mature and young artists and the participation of its members in the representation of the country at the international level was a point of reference for the Greek art of the period. 
In addition, he belonged to the Nazarene school, the art movement that opposed the Neoclassicism, seeking to return to an art that embodied spiritual values ​​and sought inspiration from artists of the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, rejecting what they considered to be the superficial prowess of modern art.
The combinations of these two art manifestos formed his personal style in both his secular and religious art.